Things to do in Berlin: 10 sights and how to visit

Many of Berlin's best-known sights cost nothing. The Brandenburg Gate, the East Side Gallery, the Holocaust memorial and the Topography of Terror are free, and the Reichstag dome is free but needs registration. You pay for the museums, the cathedral and the TV Tower, and there the timing matters more than the price. The list starts at the gate, because almost every walk through the centre does too.

1Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate in early light, with the quadriga on top — Photo: Nino Keller / Pexels, Pexels License

Carl Gotthard Langhans built the gate between 1788 and 1791 as the ceremonial entrance to Unter den Linden, and Johann Gottfried Schadow's quadriga, the goddess of victory in a four-horse chariot, stands on top. Napoleon carried the quadriga off to Paris in 1806; it came back in 1814. After 1961 the gate stood in the border strip, out of reach from both sides, and in November 1989 people climbed onto the Wall in front of it. It reopened to pedestrians on 22 December 1989. Today Pariser Platz on the eastern side is lined with embassies and hotels, and the Tiergarten begins on the west.

Time: 20 min, longer with a walk into the Tiergarten
Setting: Outdoor
Best time: Early morning, or after dark when it is lit
Getting there: S-Bahn or U5 to Brandenburger Tor

Tip: Come early in the morning: by late morning tour groups and street performers fill Pariser Platz. For the cleanest view, stand on the Tiergarten side and look back east through the columns. The gate is the natural start of a walk along Unter den Linden to Museum Island, and the Reichstag and the Holocaust memorial are both within five minutes.

Free and open around the clock. Pariser Platz is a public square; the gate itself cannot be climbed.

visitberlin.de

2Reichstag dome

The Reichstag with its glass dome and a German flag against a deep blue sky — Photo: Felix Mittermeier / Pexels, Pexels License

Paul Wallot's parliament building was finished in 1894, gutted by fire in 1933 and left a ruin after the war. When the German parliament returned from Bonn, Norman Foster rebuilt it with a glass dome, opened in 1999. Two spiral ramps wind up inside, and a mirrored cone at the centre reflects daylight down into the debating chamber of the Bundestag.

Time: 1 h to 1 h 30 min, including the security check
Setting: Both
Best time: Late afternoon or evening, on a clear day
Getting there: U5 to Bundestag, or S-Bahn to Brandenburger Tor

Tip: You cannot simply walk in. Register for a time slot on the Bundestag website as early as you can, since the popular evening slots go first, and bring the photo ID you registered with. Without a booking, try the service centre on Platz der Republik on the day: any remaining places are handed out there against photo ID.

Free. Registration in advance, or on the day at the service centre on Platz der Republik; photo ID required. Closed on 24 December and occasionally at short notice.

bundestag.de

3Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The grey concrete stelae of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, with trees and new buildings behind — Photo: Esteban Arango / Pexels, Pexels License

Peter Eisenman's field of 2,711 grey concrete stelae fills a whole block south of the Brandenburg Gate and opened in May 2005. The ground dips and the blocks grow taller towards the middle, so within a few steps the narrow aisles shut out the city around you. Beneath the field, the Information Centre tells the stories of individual victims and their families.

Time: 1 h to 1 h 30 min, with the Information Centre
Setting: Both
Best time: Weekday mornings; on Mondays only the field is open
Getting there: On foot from the Brandenburg Gate, or S-Bahn and U-Bahn to Potsdamer Platz

Tip: Walk through the field first, then go down to the exhibition. The rooms are small and booked groups go in first, so a queue can form; it is usually shortest at opening time. This is a memorial, so please do not climb on the stelae or jump between them.

Free. The field is open day and night; the Information Centre Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 6 pm, last admission 45 minutes before closing.

stiftung-denkmal.de

4Topography of Terror

A stretch of the Berlin Wall above the exhibition trench of the Topography of Terror — Photo: Pham Ngoc Anh / Pexels, Pexels License

From 1933 to 1945 this site on Niederkirchnerstraße held the headquarters of the Gestapo, with its own prison, and of the SS leadership, and from 1939 the Reich Security Main Office. The documentation centre that opened here in 2010 explains how the Nazi machinery of persecution worked. Along the edge of the site a stretch of the Wall still stands above the exhibition trench, which runs beside the excavated cellar walls.

Time: 1 h 30 min to 2 h
Setting: Both
Best time: Any time; the main exhibition is indoors
Getting there: U6 to Kochstraße, or S-Bahn to Anhalter Bahnhof or Potsdamer Platz

Tip: Ask at the service desk for the free audio guide to the main exhibition, or play it on your own phone if you bring headphones. Checkpoint Charlie is a few minutes' walk east and needs only a short look, so the two fit easily into one morning.

Free. Indoor exhibition and exhibition trench daily 10 am to 8 pm; the rest of the grounds until dusk.

topographie.de

5Gendarmenmarkt

A domed church tower with a gilded statue on top above Gendarmenmarkt in evening light — Photo: Niklas Jeromin / Pexels, Pexels License

Two almost identical domed towers frame Schinkel's Konzerthaus. The French Church was built for the Huguenot refugees who settled here around 1700, the German Church opposite for the German-speaking congregation; the word Dom in their German names refers to the domed towers, not to a cathedral. The square takes its name from the Gens d'armes cavalry regiment that once kept its stables here, and a statue of Schiller stands in front of the concert hall.

Time: 30 min
Setting: Outdoor
Best time: Late afternoon; in Advent for the Christmas market
Getting there: U2 or U6 to Stadtmitte

Tip: The square is a few streets south of Unter den Linden, so fold it into the walk from the Brandenburg Gate to Museum Island. In Advent a Christmas market fills it; the dates are on the visitBerlin page.

Free and open at all hours.

visitberlin.de

6Berlin Cathedral

Berlin Cathedral in low evening sun — Photo: Marcelo Gonzalez / Pexels, Pexels License

Berlin's largest Protestant church was completed in 1905 for the Hohenzollern dynasty, a neo-Baroque showpiece on the Spree across from the royal palace, now rebuilt as the Humboldt Forum. Inside are the domed main church, the imperial staircase and, downstairs, a crypt with nearly a hundred coffins of the family. A walkway around the outside of the dome looks over Museum Island and the Lustgarten.

Time: 1 h to 1 h 30 min, with the dome walk and the crypt
Setting: Indoor
Best time: A clear afternoon, for the dome walk
Getting there: U5 to Museumsinsel

Tip: Save the cathedral for a clear day: the stairs to the dome walk are long and narrow, and the reward is the view across the Lustgarten to the TV Tower. On Sundays the church opens to visitors only at 12 pm, after the morning service. Tickets are sold on the cathedral website.

Monday to Saturday 9 am to 6 pm, Sunday from 12 pm; last admission 5 pm. Services and concerts sometimes close parts of the church.

berlinerdom.de

7Museum Island

The Bode-Museum on Museum Island lit up at dusk and reflected in the Spree — Photo: Niklas Jeromin / Pexels, Pexels License

Five museums opened between 1830 and 1930 share the northern tip of an island in the Spree, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. The Neues Museum holds the bust of Nefertiti, the Altes Museum Greek and Roman antiquities, the Alte Nationalgalerie nineteenth-century painting and the Bode-Museum sculpture and coins. The Pergamonmuseum is closed for renovation until 4 July 2027; in the meantime a selection of its pieces is on show opposite the island in the exhibition building Pergamonmuseum. Das Panorama.

Time: 2 to 5 h, depending on how many museums you see
Setting: Indoor
Best time: A grey day, Tuesday to Sunday
Getting there: U5 to Museumsinsel, or S-Bahn to Hackescher Markt

Tip: Choose one or two museums rather than trying all of them. The Neues Museum, with Nefertiti and its restored war-damaged halls, is the usual first choice; the Bode-Museum is the quietest. The Museum Island ticket at €24 covers every open house for a day. Visitors under 18 go in free but need a free ticket from the desk or the museums' online shop.

Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am, closed on Mondays; the Neues Museum closes at 6 pm, the Bode-Museum on Thursdays at 8 pm. Day ticket for the island €24; under 18 free.

smb.museum

8TV Tower

The TV Tower rising into a blue sky with a few white clouds — Photo: Claudia Solano / Pexels, Pexels License

East Berlin's TV Tower opened in 1969, and at 368 metres it is still the tallest structure in Germany. The steel sphere holds a viewing floor at 203 metres with a revolving restaurant just above it, and on a clear day the view reaches the lakes and forests at the edge of the city. From the ground the tower works as a compass: you can see it from most of the inner districts.

Time: 1 h to 1 h 30 min, including the lift and any wait
Setting: Both
Best time: A clear evening, around sunset
Getting there: S-Bahn or U-Bahn to Alexanderplatz

Tip: Book a time slot on the official website to skip the queue at the desk. Look up before you buy, because when cloud hangs low over Alexanderplatz the sphere sits inside it. A slot around sunset shows you the city in daylight and with its lights on.

Daily from 9 am (March to October) or 10 am (November to February) until 11 pm. Online tickets from €20.

tv-turm.de

9East Side Gallery

The Fraternal Kiss mural on the East Side Gallery — Photo: Ejov Igor / Pexels, Pexels License

The longest surviving stretch of the Wall, about 1.3 kilometres along Mühlenstraße in Friedrichshain, was painted in 1990 by more than a hundred artists from around the world. Dmitri Vrubel's Fraternal Kiss of Brezhnev and Honecker draws the crowds, but the long run of smaller pictures says as much about the months after the border opened.

Time: 1 to 2 h for the whole length
Setting: Outdoor
Best time: Morning, before the crowds
Getting there: S-Bahn to Ostbahnhof, or S-Bahn and U1 to Warschauer Straße

Tip: Start at Ostbahnhof and walk east, so that you end at the Oberbaum Bridge and can cross straight into Kreuzberg. Gaps in the wall lead to the riverbank behind it, which is far quieter than the street. The murals have been restored more than once, so please do not touch or add to them.

Free and open at all hours. The murals face the street, with the Spree behind them.

visitberlin.de

10Charlottenburg Palace

The front of Charlottenburg Palace with its green dome and an equestrian statue in the courtyard — Photo: Dmitrij / Pexels, Pexels License

Begun in the 1690s as a summer house for Sophie Charlotte, wife of the future King Frederick I, the palace grew over the following century into the largest surviving Hohenzollern residence in Berlin. The Old Palace holds the Baroque state rooms, the chapel and the Porcelain Cabinet; the New Wing adds the apartments of Frederick the Great. Behind it, a formal Baroque garden gives way to a landscape park along the Spree.

Time: 2 to 3 h
Setting: Both
Best time: Morning; the rooms in rain, the gardens in sun
Getting there: Bus M45 or 109 to Luisenplatz/Schloss Charlottenburg

Tip: If you want more than the Old Palace, the charlottenburg+ ticket at €19 covers every open house on the grounds for one day and reserves your time for the Old Palace. The gardens are free and make a fine walk on their own. The palace is a long way west of Mitte, so pair it with the Kurfürstendamm. Tickets are on the palace website.

Closed on Mondays; in November and December Tuesday to Sunday 10 am to 4.30 pm, last admission 30 minutes before closing. Old Palace €12; gardens free.

spsg.de